Environment, transport and clean air

Apartment blocks are being built all over London with underground parking.  How can we ever get cleaner air with this constant population increase?  Traffic jams have increased year on year and pressure on the tube service.

TFL have hugely improved their Northern Line service in recent years.  However, increased frequency of tube trains cannot keep up with the population/commuter increase.  Commuting to central London by tube from Balham we now have to leave no later than 7am as the 'rush hour' starts at this time and leaving it any later is horrendous.  10 years ago leaving at 8am was sufficient.  Same in the evenings the 'rush hour',  in other words completely overcrowded tubes, now extends right up to 7pm.

Log/coal Fires:

Around Wandsworth the air is foul in the winter due to the increase of log burning stoves and residents use of log/coal fires.  Wandsworth brought in a new Clear Air Act  2012 outlawing non-compliant log burning stoves and banning the use of logs and non compliant coal.  However, this has never been enforced  - and there has been no publicity about it - and the air quality in Wandsworth continues to deteriorate

I really think we need to phase out the use of diesel and petrol cars. We cannot sustain this way of living. Cars that are old that they churn out pollution should be scrapped and any antique cars should be converted to using biofuel.

There should be more park and ride opportunities so that people do not bring a car into London at all. Lots of small towns have this and why not London?? We could have more electric buses brought in and incentives to use them. It is a less stressful way to live and if it became popular or trendy it would improve our environment. There was a film on BBCClick that showed this is the future of sustainable towns. I have only sold my car and cannot believe how much I notice pollution more now. I can taste it and can't seem to escape it.

I live near Putney High St and there is a possibility that it should just be used for buses, taxis and disabled people. Unless they have electric cars. The pollution levels are so high that they break the recommended guidelines in the first month.

Pollution is a health hazard and they have just done research that shows dust from brake pads to also be a danger to health.

Encouraging cyclists is a great but there are no new laws brought in to guide cyclists on their behaviour. Travelling in packs and hitting cars that do not give them room to travel 3 or 4 abreast is not acceptable. Neither is taking over parks such as Richmond Park and not abiding by the speed limit. Recently someone even ran into a deer. They do not show consideration for deer and leave their inner tubes on the side of the road. Richmond Park is not a velodrome and Surrey is not a practice run. Perhaps recreational cyclists need velodromes. Cycle lanes need more safer routes and a reduction of trucks and vans could help this. Perhaps trade vehicles could just be in the early hours and morning, to give us the rest of the day to be safer? Especially after school hours.

Why not think a transport strategy that gives priority to pedestrians and cyclists? Launch the cycling pathways for once and stop listening to the motor industry.

Plans are good, but transport needs to be reliable. It doesn't matter to me if the bus is electric, if there aren't many from my house to nearest station, it doesn't matter if you charge cars to drive in central London if there are TOO many uber and mini cabs and taxi cabs out in the streets, who buy the way don't want to take you further out from the city Centre, trains are constantly delaied and canceled, and super over crowded. Cycle paths are being built but cyclists are not using them (in my opinion is due to bad planning), and they are not being punished. We have incentives to ride our bikes (as it is cleaner), but there is no safety in leaving your bike on the streets, no proper parking for them - Japan has underground parking for bikes everywhere, for example. Changing to a clean air transport is needed to improve air condition, but change in culture, education and reliability is needed too. 

Whats the point in freezing fares if it means TFL can't afford its own maintenance and u[upgrade schedule?  I think the fare freeze was a bad idea, if any fares should be frozen it should be National Rail fares.  TFL needs to exponentially accelerate it's upgrades schedule, i've lived in London for over 12 years and ever since i came here i've heard about the fabled Bakerloo extension ... yet in 2019 we're still talking about it instead of doing it.  The supposed relief it will bring to South East London will be already consumer by the time it's constructed at this rate.  Stop be so slow and lazy and get on with it ... ame with CR2.  London is supposedly one of the richest cities in the world so is perfectly capable of affording these upgrades ... it seems most of the money for them goes on consultants and never ender consultations!  

The ULEZ is a great idea but as someone who commutes into central London every day i see no reduction in the amount of congestion from fossil fuel powered vehicles, most of the busses are still fossil fueled and there are far too man cars at rush hour with only once person in the them.  The Assembly should consider a more radical approach, make all busses and black cabs electric in the next 5 years, and ban  all private vehicles, construction vehicles and ride shares from central areas during the morning and evening rush hour.

It's telling that environment is conflated with transport policy, when in fact although they overlap they should have different objectives.  The top objective of transport policy should not be to reduce emissions, but that ought to be one objective.  Transport policy should be led by what users want and by using tools of supply and demand management to assist with that.  The fares freeze has been a partial farce and this shouldn't be a political football.  The bus network loses a lot of money (30% of bus passengers pay nothing) and the tube generates a surplus, so there is a need to comprehensively review the entire fare system, in part to get rid of the political pork-barrelling that drives policy.  For example, 60-65yos who are on high incomes get free bus travel, and free bus travel for children, at all times is a massive transfer to families on higher incomes and incentivises kids to hop on and off buses for a few stops.  Both should go.  Children should get a single return free trip on school days and pay a half fare the rest of the time.  Children in most cities worldwide pay to ride public transport as it encourages them to walk or cycle shorter trips.

The ULEZ in central London is a success, but expanding it to the North and (so-called) South Circular roads is poorly targeted policy because it will mean many people with older vehicles who drive relatively few miles may be penalised for simply driving to the shops which are on the "wrong" side of the road.  For example Tesco at Tottenham is on one side of the North Circular, Sainsburys is a few minutes along that road on the other side.  Far better to target congestion as a means of reducing emissions, which means making traffic flow better by various means.

There should be road strategies for all TFL corridors to address congestion and safety issues, at the moment very little attention is paid to better managing roads.

ULEZ provides a much needed reduction in emissions from vehicles in central London - to the extent that micro particles from the exhaust of overflying aircraft have now been identified.

Micro particles get to the parts of the body that other pollutants cannot reach yet there is nothing in the budget to fight the expansion of the biggest source - the 3rd runway at Heathrow.

Stop the expansion at London City Airport. Having a primary school playground less than 300 metres from the centre of the runway is NOT good for childrens health

In places where the congestion is only in the commuting direction, I'd suggest creating spaces in the traffic like in boxed junctions where busses can rejoin the lane after overtaking five or so cars at a time.

An increase of £2.11 million for the GLA’s Environment Budget, - empty bus lanes at peak times cause the majority of the pollution through traffic congestion

Tightening the Low Emission Zone standards in October 2020, and expanding the successful central London ULEZ - too much too soon people cant afford to keep replacing vehicles or pay the fees at your proposed rates - empty bus lanes = pollution whilst traffic queues

Ensure London, as the world’s first National Park City, - its housing or trees not both

Continuing the electrification of London buses, with more than 2,000 zero emission buses by end of 2024 - all electric buses and taxis by 2024 as they are the biggest polluters

Supporting TfL’s aim for all its rail services to be 100 per cent carbon free by 2030 - try fixing the services first and ban rail strikes!

Following a two-year pause, proactive renewal of roads and paving to take place with a focus on improving walking, cycling and public transport - Motorists pay for the roads cyclists dont obey the rules of the roads and dont contibute stop bashing the motorist, some of us have no choice through disability! Force all cyclists to be taxed and insured with a displayed registration number for prosecution when rules are broken / accidents caused!

Introducing new services on the Northern line extension to Battersea and the Barking Riverside extension on the London Overground - Agreed

Completing the signalling upgrade and increasing capacity by 33 per cent on the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and District lines - mostly covered by multiple services what about unserviced areas?

I stopped commuting to London towards the end of 2001 when I changed jobs and started work closer to the country side but I have traveled to London on occasions since.  The amount of litter is awful and so unnecessary.  If litter bins are really necessary then you must make sure that they are emptied frequently.  However, the human race, being fundamentally lazy, needs to understand that dropping litter is NOT necessary - take it home if the bins are full as it is your litter!  Pedestrianisation is a good idea as it will help retail outlets and the individual as well with more exercise.  Road renewal and pothole repairs are essential with the right products being used so that the work could last longer than their predecessors.  Black plastic is often said to be difficult to recycle but there is a UK Company that uses that plastic within its road repairing resurfacing so London should look into that as well.

I would love for the mayor to add, the following to the list to reduce our Carbon foot print - total ban on single use plastic. Total ban of the free newspaper. 

I love reading the Metro and Evening standard and would miss them, It upsets me to see them discarded on the buses and underground, and majority do not seem to care to recycle them.

I believe the owners should consider providing digital copies, people could freely download, via app on the bus or underground.

I love the hopper fare, yes I am happy to sit on a bus and relax, my journey may take 40 minutes longer than via tube, but generally I get there less stressed and coming home, it my time to review my day.

I would like the mayor to consider and cost of having someone on buses out of rush hours (other than driver), yes I know it would cost lots of money, but I believe it would be something positive and would increase non peak use of buses.

Personally what happened too those two young ladies brutally attacked in Camden area and possible 1000 s of other unreported, should never happen again.

Yes I am older person, I can remember buses having conductor to take fares, they also chatted with people, some would sing, whistle, tell stories, provide information, some where not positive, it is not rose tinted glasses.

I would spend the 1 billion planned for Silver town motorway on putting additional staff back on the buses, if not possible make punishment more severe, I observe people fare dodge, poor staff are powerless.

I hope others are not upset with my comments.

I fully agree with the need to ensure cleaner air in London. But I don't think the proposed ULEZ will do much to improve air quality.  The area bounded by the N and S Circular Roads is huge so it will not be possible to reduce traffic levels much, and there will only be a relatively small number of electric or hybrid vehicles in operation.  I disagree with the assumption that older cars must automatically be more polluting, they will have passed the MOT emissions test if they are on the road. 

My own issue is that I have a classic and very rare older car, a 1998 Jaguar, and I really don't want to have to get rid of it as it is well-maintained and I believe not a polluting vehicle.  I suggest that exemptions could be made for classic older cars, provided that they are legally roadworthy.  There is only a very small number of such cars, and their presence on the road would not appreciably affect air quality, as their owners do take great care of them, and in fact they are generally not driven as much as every-day cars.  I am happy to use public transport as much as I can, but would be very saddened to have to lose my cherished car, as I certainly could not afford to pay £12.50 every time I drive it. What do people think?

As a regular user of London Transport, I feel that you should tackle fare evasion more aggressively. I see fare evasion on a daily basis bot on the tube network, where people regularly walk through very close to someone in front of them to avoid paying. It's happened to me lots of times and when I challenge the person they usually just walk off as if to say "what at least you going to do" and they are right. Nothing. I also see people not tapping in regularly on the buses where they get on the back door or middle door and don't tap in. Especially during rush hour when the buses are busy. I am fed up subsidising these people and I wish you would do something about it. Another note on transport, but it also leads onto your town centre discussions, during school hours, the buses are filthy, and usually with dumped used chicken meal boxes that kids buy after school. I am ashamed to say that this is not the look of the world class transport system that London should have. Why not have a look at the licensing of these fast food outlets? Ask schools to encourage their pupils to keep buses litter free & be more proud of their environment! 
 

And on the environment, I think you should be more aggressive on air pollution, have more car free zones, especially where the transport hubs are good, people would have to switch to public transport where they have no choice in how they get to work. However, you must ensure that the transport works and can handle the numbers before you ban cars! 

Sorry people, I work central London every day, I saw now change in traffic volumes with the cc. Charge.i now see the Ulez is a pay to pollute   charge so no change there as EVs are not selling in anywhere the quantities they expected.

if I could live another 100 years I’d bet you we are no nearer to clean air than now, if everyone goes electric the power companies are already discussing overload on the grid and bigger charges to charge cars/ EVs not to mention battery production in third world countries no Doubt pollutes and contaminates those places.

sorry just my spin.

No mention of any dates to end mini-cabs and taxis with high emission of CO2, NO and other harmful substances.  London taxis are exempt from the ULEZ tariffs, so the Mayor needs to set an end dates on the older vehicles.  How about the end of 2025 ?  Five more years of bad air is surely enough for most Londoners.  

The current target of 'zero carbon and zero waste city by 2050' in not ambitious enough and we need to see some measurable milestones for each 5 years from now, including some detail on targets and actions for key sector (eg transport, housing etc).  

Come on Sadiq, have more ambition !

2050 as a target for zero carbon and zero waste is laughable. It should be 2030!

I applaud the freezing of TfL fares, and continuing with the bus-hopper fare, and I welcome the commitment to electrifying buses. However, the main reason for a decrease in bus journeys is that their journey times are not reliable enough. Many main roads still no not have dedicated bus lanes and the reliability of buses are still being hampered by the dominance of private cars. 

Added to this, most stations are still in need of upgrading to step-free access. I struggle to see why the Mayor is pressing ahead with plans to spend £1bn on the Silvertown tunnel when this could instead be spent on improving public transport and expanding/building cycleways. How can this £1bn spend, on what is essentially a motorway, be justified? Especially as the Local Authorities it will directly impact have openly said they are against the plans.